Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, has signed into law, a marriage bill which legalises polygamy and criminalises homosexuality in that country.

The new law that went into effect in Kenya this week makes it legal for a man to marry as many women as he wants.

President Kenyatta signed the polygamy measure into law Tuesday, formally recognising what has long been a cultural practice in the nation.

The Kenyan Parliament passed the bill in March despite protests from female lawmakers who angrily stormed out of the late-night session at the time.

The bill initially allowed the first wife the right to veto the husband’s choice of additional spouses. Male members of parliament successfully pushed to get that clause dropped.

“Marriage is the voluntary union of a man and a woman whether in a monogamous or polygamous union…. It is time for Africa to recognize that we cannot continue to promote the culture of others over ours,” the President said in his address.

No limit on number of wives

The law legalizes polygamous unions, but does not provide an official limit on the number of wives a man can have.

The Federation of Women Lawyers, a powerful women’s rights group, applauded aspects of the bill and criticized others.

Polygamy already is a common fixture among many cultures in Kenya and in some other African countries.

The bill, the group said, is long overdue because polygamous unions were previously not regarded as equal to regular marriages.

“We are happy with the law because finally all marriages are being treated equally,” said Christine Ochieng, executive director of the nation’s Federation of Women Lawyers.

“All marriages will be issued with marriage certificates, including customary marriages. Before this, customary marriages were treated as inferior with no marriage certificates. This opened up suffering for the women because they could not legally prove they were married to a particular man.”

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